Agustina Undabarrena

Abstract Pests cause up to 40% of global crops losses. Pesticide overuse drives resistance and poses notable risks to public health and the environment. Many hypocrealean fungi form symbiotic relationships with plants while antagonizing pests, making them valuable sources of biocontrol agents and biopesticides. However, little is known about their biosynthetic capabilities.

The study of biogeography enables an understanding of the distribution patterns of biodiversity across space and time [1]. Therefore byusing a trait-based approach such as antibiotic production it is possible to assess the evolutionary geographic and ecological variables that affect the Actinobacteria specialized metabolism [2 3]. This is particularly important as Actinobacteria isolated from marine ecosystems have been shown to be a promising source of new drugs [4 5].